Locals' work makes it to Hollywood

When he had a business in San Francisco, local tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle inked his work on singer Janis Joplin. More than 40 years later, he recreated that work on a 10-foot "guitar."

Tuttle was asked to do so by the estate of the late singer as part of a yearly fundraiser launched by Gibson Guitars known as GuitarTown. The event, held in cities such as Nashville and Los Angeles, features 10-foot-tall replicas of Gibson Les Paul guitars painted by various artists and ultimately sold for charity.

Fellow tattoo artist Mark Phillips, owner of Trust Tattoo in Ukiah, said Tuttle enlisted his help in decorating the guitar since he is not as practiced with airbrushing as Phillips.

"His one request was that it look better than anything else that's been done -- that it look nothing like anything else on the website," Phillips said, explaining that he first painted the tattoos Tuttle gave Joplin on the front of the guitar, then painted Joplin's face on the back.

Next came the hard work -- making the artwork look like an actual guitar.

"We really went out of our way to do that," Phillips said, adding that it took about 50 hours and "tons of effort" to find the right materials and approximate the various parts on the face of an electric guitar.

"We used all sorts of kooky stuff, like brass cabinet drawer pulls, lamp parts, a tattoo ink bottle, and a ceiling fan pull knob for the toggle switch," he said, adding that all the effort paid off. "It looks really, really cool, and it does look like a guitar."

On Monday, the guitar was on display in the Palace Hotel while Phillips wrapped it in "about 200 feet of bubble wrap" for its trip down south, where it will be displayed on Hollywood's Sunset Strip for the next few months.

"Other than the fiberglass body, it's actually very delicate," he said, adding that he was quite anxious Tuesday while waiting to hear if the guitar arrived in one piece.

Phillips said he and Tuttle were not paid for their work, only reimbursed for the cost of the materials they used, but he relished the creative experience.

"Plus, I'm a fan of Gibson, so it's neat to be on their website," he said.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.